Podcasting Tool

Podcast RSS feed validator

Technical validation for Apple Podcasts & Spotify.

What is an RSS feed validator? 

Our RSS feed validator at PodcastAI checks that your RSS feed is error-free and properly formatted. The RSS feed is used to distribute content like blog posts or podcast episodes in a standard format, making it easily readable by platforms and apps such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

The validator examines the code and checks your feed, typically in an XML feed, to ensure it is correctly structured according to W3C RSS validator standards. If there are any inconsistencies or issues, the tool detects and corrects them, ensuring the feed is properly formatted. This helps your content, whether it's a blog post, podcast, or other media, to be distributed smoothly across platforms to readers, listeners, and subscribers without errors.

It’s similar to running a spell check in Word. The tool checks your content feed to ensure everything is functioning as expected.

Why do I need to use an RSS feed validator? 

You need an RSS feed validator to ensure that your content (such as blogs, podcasts, or news) is delivered correctly to your audience through RSS readers or platforms. If your RSS feed has errors or is improperly formatted, it may not update, display, or be accessible to subscribers. This can lead to issues like:

  • Content not showing up in apps, readers, or aggregators (e.g., Spotify, Apple Podcasts).

  • Broken links or missing metadata, causing a poor user experience.

  • Incompatibility with platforms that rely on RSS feed test URLs.

By using an RSS test feed, you can catch and fix these problems early, ensuring your content reaches your audience seamlessly and keeping your feed functional across all platforms.

How important is it to use an RSS feed validator for your content?

Using an RSS feed validator is essential to ensure your content is properly formatted, error-free, and compatible with various platforms, ensuring seamless delivery to your audience.

What are the advantages of using an RSS feed validator? 

  • Error Detection: Identifies issues in your RSS feed, such as formatting errors, missing tags, or invalid code, helping you fix problems before they affect distribution.

  • Improved Compatibility: Ensures your feed meets industry standards, making it compatible with various RSS readers, podcast platforms, and aggregators (e.g., Apple Podcasts, Spotify).

  • Better Content Delivery: Prevents broken feeds or incomplete content, ensuring that subscribers receive full updates without disruptions.

  • Enhanced SEO: A properly validated feed can contribute to better search engine indexing, improving your site’s visibility.

  • Platform Compliance: Many platforms reject or mishandle feeds that aren’t correctly formatted; a validator ensures compliance with requirements like W3C standard.

  • User Experience: By fixing errors, your audience gets seamless access to your content with accurate metadata, descriptions, and media files.

  • Time Savings: Automatically catches potential issues, saving time spent troubleshooting broken feeds or missing updates.

  • Improved Performance: Ensures that your RSS feed loads faster and without glitches, leading to a smoother experience for both users and content distribution systems.

  • Cross-platform Functionality: Validates your feed’s ability to function across different devices and applications, ensuring that users can access your content wherever they are.

  • Reliability for Subscribers: Helps maintain consistent updates, building trust and reliability with your audience, ensuring they don’t miss any content.

  • Early Issue Detection: Finds issues before they lead to serious problems, such as feed downtime or failed content distribution.

  • Metadata Validation: Ensures that important metadata (such as titles, descriptions, and authorship) is included and correctly formatted for platforms that rely on this information.

  • Future-proofing: As RSS standards evolve, using a validator keeps your feed compliant with new rules, helping you avoid problems with future platform updates.

  • Professional Appearance: Ensures that your feed looks professional and is properly presented across all platforms, improving brand perception. 

  • Free and Accessible: Many RSS feed validators are free to use, making it a cost-effective way to maintain content quality.